Misguided Obsession
by Spanner
Summary: People who play RPGs can be strange, obsessive people. But what do the characters in the game think about it? A chapter out of my own .hack//INFECTION experience.


Foreward:

Many who enjoy Roll Playing Games tend to come up with little challenges to give themselves to make the game more interesting. For some, the challenge comes in trying to play through the entire game without leveling up. For others, it might come in keeping the same equipment from the beginning of the game to the end. In my case, I tend to be a completist - I do my best to collect every item, kill every monster, find every hidden character, and so on and so forth. But when I played .hack//INFECTION, I found a new challenge to try...

The following is a story about just what the characters in the game might have been thinking while I was accomplishing this challenge. The following events are almost exactly the same as the steps I took in the game to accomplish my goal. The equipment I was using, the areas I was using them in, and the members in my party are all the same. This story might be a little hard to follow for those who have not played .hack//INFECTION - and be warned, there are a few spoilers, as well.

I hope that you find this story entertaining, rather than dry, but I was kind of a stickler for detail while writing this story, so please forgive me if parts of it are boring.

Anyway, to disclaim, .hack//INFECTION is owned by Bandai, as are its characters.

* * *

**

Misguided Obsession

**  


by Spanner

None of the others understand. But then, to be fair, how could they? None of them have been granted the strange and wonderful power that I have...

I feared it, at first. After all, it hurt a good friend of mine - I still don't know if Yasuhiko will ever recover - and I've no doubt that it has hurt others as well. But I remembered what I'd been told: it is a power that can be used for destruction OR salvation, depending on the user. I intend to be a savior, not a destroyer.

But in the meantime, I intend to Data Drain at least one of every single creature in the World that it's possible to do so.

Why? I dunno. It's just something that I feel I gotta do.

Like I said, the others don't understand. Oh, they'd come along when I'd spend countless hours picking through Keywords, looking for just the right combinations to reveal a monster I was looking for. But I could tell they were annoyed with me. Some of them were polite:

* * *

Natsume: I don't mean to be out of line, but shouldn't we go to Theta Server? These guys are all pretty weak. 

Piros: Indeed, fair eyes! The monsters of this area are no match for our prowess! We will find greater glory elsewhere!

Me: Aw, c'mon, guys - I'm sure there's a Goblin Night or two in THIS area!

* * *

Others were less so:

* * *

Gardenia: This is pointless. We should leave at once.

Me: Not yet! I'm sure I'll find an Ectoplasm somewhere around here!

BlackRose: Who cares!?! And why the hell are you wearing those worthless Rusty Nails again? Are you stupid?

* * *

Heh. Leave it to BlackRose to tell it like it is. She's right, in a way. It is stupid. But I can't help myself. And the Rusty Nails were a godsend. Too many enemies die before I can break through their write protection. The Rusty Nails, though, are so incredibly lousy, that even in my skilled hands they barely scratch the targets I use 'em on. They're the perfect surgeon's tools for whittling down an enemy, hitpoint by hitpoint, until I finally hear that glorious shattering sound that lets me know the enemy's wide open for a Data Drain.

It all paid off, in the end. We're just a step away from finding the one who Data Drained Orca. This player BlackRose found - Meg, I think her name was. She has the final key, I'm sure of it. The important thing, though, is that I've Data Drained every creature possible up to this point, except for one.

And that one was in this very area.

* * *

Me: Elk, First aid!

Elk: Uh... Right. Leave recovering to me.

BlackRose: Sorry about this, Kite!

She was apologizing, of course, because she was busily gouging big chunks out of me with her Flame Blade, while I attempted to do the same to the Hell Box in front of me with my Soul Blades. Annoying, annoying enemies, those Hell Boxes. They always seemed to cast Ranki Lei on poor BlackRose first, too. Well, poor me, at any rate, since I was the one that the Heavy Blader would usually end up beating on in her confusion.

At least the stupid things were easy to Data Drain. Not like the Lamia Hunters, who were way too easy to cut down. I'd ended up having to whittle one down with my Rusty Nails, but in the end, I pulled it off without TOO much trouble.

At any rate, I didn't want BlackRose to feel too bad. It wasn't really her fault, after all; I should have packed a few more Restoratives. Even Elk had run out long ago.

Me: S'alright, BlackRose.

Elk: La Repth!

The healing energies of La Repth settled around BlackRose and myself (not that she needed it, as both she and the enemy were concentrating their damage on yours truly), and the Hell Box finally crumbled to dust. The Lamia Hunters fell pretty quickly after that, and I spent a few seconds jogging to escape BlackRose's sword while she chased me around waiting for the spell to wear off.

When it did, Elk healed our remaining wounds, and we moved on to the next portal. It might have seemed a needless waste of time to activate every portal on the field, rather than head straight to the dungeon where Meg was waiting for us, but I had a feeling that we'd be needing the experience. That... thing that had hurt Orca was just so strong... If we weren't strong enough, we'd end up just like my friend, and that wouldn't help anyone.

The next portal opened... and a huge smile crossed my face.

Me: Everyone, Operation: Recover!

Elk groaned quietly to himself, and BlackRose rolled her eyes.

BlackRose: Not again...

BlackRose and Elk dutifully held their positions, leaving me to do the dirty work. Which was just what I wanted. I took stock of the enemy: Two Lamia Hunters, and a Grand Mage - my target. Perfect! I hacked the Lamia Hunters to bits - and then froze in place, as a pair of enormous fireballs slammed into my character.

Me: Ouch! Elk, First Aid!

As the Wavemaster patched me up, I took off after the Grand Mage. He was a slippery one, doing his best to keep his distance. Fortunately, as the Hero of Zeit, I had access to a technique that would be his doom!

Me: Ap Do!

The Grand Mage took advantage of my spellcasting to strike again, but I ignored the damage. Once I had enchanted myself, I took off after the Grand Mage, easily overcoming him with my enhanced speed. I swiped at him with my claw-like blades-

-and cursed myself, as fully two fifths of his lifebar vanished. I should have realized - this was a mage-type enemy, high on speed and evasion, but low on defense and hitpoints. I hastily switched to my Rusty Nails, but figured that it was probably too late. Mage-types were notoriously hard to Data Drain; not only did they need to be reduced to a certain number of hitpoints before their protection would break, but they needed to be struck a certain number of times, as well. Usually a large number of times.

I began to lay into the Grand Mage with my terrible weaponry... And was horrified to see that I was still dealing far too much damage with each hit. Instead of the preferred one damage with each successful strike, I was dealing four, five, or even six! How weak WAS the thing?!? It was still a small amount, given the Grand Mage's total hitpoints, but, as I said, mages were notoriously difficult to Data Drain...

It didn't particularly surprise me when the Grand Mage croaked without ever Protect Breaking.

My mood somewhat soured, I waited for BlackRose and Elk to rejoin me.

BlackRose: Didn't get him, huh? Don't worry - I'm sure you'll get the next one.

Elk said nothing, but gave me a disappointed look.

We moved on to the next portal, and this one unleashed a Hell Box, a Lamia Hunter, and another Grand Mage. Again, I told the others to stand back - I didn't want to risk either of them harming the Grand Mage - and moved in to kill the Hell Box, the tougher and more dangerous of the remaining enemies.

After chipping away at it for a bit without much effect, I realized that I'd forgotten to remove my Rusty Nails. I disgustedly switched back to my Soul Blades and tried again. Unfortunately, the damage had been done, and BlackRose was once again trying to carve her initials into my character's skin.

She didn't apologize this time. I didn't really expect her to.

With the Hell Box, the Lamia Hunter, the Grand Mage, and BlackRose all pounding away at me, I was taking quite a bit of damage. Even with Elk helping out, I was forced to drink a couple of Health Drinks to keep from croaking. In time, though, the Hell Box and the Lamia Hunter fell, and the spell on BlackRose wore off, leaving me to hunt my true quarry.

Switching back to my Rusty Nails, I tracked down the Grand Mage (fortunately, my speed spell was still in effect, so this was not a difficult chore), and whittled it down with my blades. To my chagrin, I found that not even the Rusty Blades were adequate, this time; the Grand Mage still died without ever Protect Breaking.

I tried again. And again. Hoping that I might hit upon a lucky string of low-damage hits. It's difficult to say whether I did or not, but nothing worked. Grand Mage after Grand Mage fell to my Rusty Nails. I groaned, as I suddenly leveled up.

BlackRose: Hey, good job, Kite!

I merely threw her a dirty look, which seemed to surprise her. She glared back in response.

BlackRose: What's YOUR problem?

Ignoring her, I thought about my predicament. Clearly, if I was going to trap this particular prey, I was going to need to use some different tactic. I somehow needed to deal less damage with each hit... Or, at least, get someone else to deal the low-damage hits I needed. But who could I find weak enough to do the job?

I slowly turned a smile on Elk, who shifted nervously. He clutched his staff protectively to himself.

Elk: What?

Kite: Say, Elk... Why don't YOU fight the next Grand Mage?

Elk: You mean with my spells?

Kite: No, with your staff!

Elk: What? No way!

Not a surprising answer. Wavemasters rarely engaged in melee combat of any kind if they could help it, and for good reason. With their thin armor and low physical attack rating, they were simply lousy at it. Even Mistral, the very living embodiment of a sugar rush, tended to hang towards the back during combat, lending assistance through her spells, rather than wading in to dispense punishment with her Wavemaster's staff.

In this case, though, that weakness was something I was counting on. If only I could convince him...

Me: Aw, c'mon, Elk! Be a pal!

Elk just clutched his staff tighter, and shifted his eyes away. It was time for my trump card.

Me: I'll give you some Aromatic Grass...

Elk looked back at me again, and I could tell that he was tempted. I really did have some Aromatic Grass - the Iron Grunty I'd raised had traded it to me for a handful of tarot cards. Of course, knowing how much Elk and Mia loved the stuff, I'd intended to give it to one of them from the moment I'd gotten it. If it'd help convince Elk to help, though, I saw no problem in using it as a bargaining chip...

Finally, though, he turned away again.

Elk: No.

Scratch that plan, then. I briefly considered attempting to herd Grand Mages toward Elk - he'd attack enemies that wandered close to him - but quickly discarded the idea. They simply moved too quickly and too randomly. Besides, judging by the suspicious look Elk was giving me, he'd soon spot such a plan. I didn't want to get on the skittish boy's bad side. Any more than I already had, that is. I'd definitely need to give him that Aromatic Grass to make up for this.

Okay, plan two. If I can't get my allies to do the dirty work for me, maybe I can get my enemies to do it? Probably the only upside to the Rusty Nails offensively is that they enabled the wielder to cast Miu Lei to Charm enemies into helping out. Similarly, the Spell Blades I was wearing enabled the slightly cheaper but less focused Ranki Lei spell. I'd certainly find a certain relish in Confusing Hell Boxes into attacking one another - a sweet revenge indeed. There was one big problem with that plan, though: Both spells were expensive to cast, and neither had a very high success rate, especially against monsters as high-level as the ones we were fighting.

Indeed, after a few failed castings of Miu Lei and Ranki Lei, I realized that it just wasn't going to work out. Heck, even if Ranki Lei worked, the Grand Mages tended to run a goodly distance away before unleashing their fire spells. The enemies I'd Confused would certainly attack us before ever making it to the targets I desired.

So, I was rapidly running out of options. My allies couldn't help, and my enemies couldn't help, so I had to rely on myself. That meant that I would need to somehow reduce my Physical Attack value even lower than my Rusty Nails did. The only way I could think of to do that was to get Dek Corv cast on me. None of us knew the spell, though, and allies were not valid targets of the spell anyway. So, I'd need an enemy to cast it... Unfortunately, I couldn't think of any that did. None that would hang around with Grand Mages, at any rate. So, it seemed that idea was out of the question, as well.

Wait... There WAS one other way to cast Dek Corv on myself...

When we arrived at the next batch of enemies, I quickly hunted down and dispatched the lone Grand Mage before turning my attention to the Hell Boxes. I could definitely use some help, this time.

Me: Operation: Wonder Battle!

Both of my companions visably brightened at this.

BlackRose: Finally gave up, huh?

Sorry, BlackRose, but I'm just getting started...

The air around the Hell Box shattered into a myriad of green hexagons as our attacks rammed through the monster's write protection, laying bare the Virus Core within. BlackRose and Elk saw nothing, of course - few other than the bearer of the Book of Twilight himself could.

Me: Data Drain!

Using Data Drain was always an odd experience. While I knew intellectually that the only sensations I was receiving were the sights and sounds being fed to my eyes and ears through my VR headset, I could somehow feel the tactile sensations of my hand stretching out, roughly tearing through the code of "The World" to grasp the heart of the monster before me, before drawing that heart back into myself. It had to be an illusion of some kind - my real-life hands were wrapped quite firmly around the game controller I was holding - but knowing what had happened to Orca, I often wondered how real the sensations might actually be...

The virus code I had extracted resolved itself into a new item within my inventory. Hands of Wood. Hmph... Well, Piros was still using Hands of Fire, so I could give them to him. And it wasn't as though I needed any more Virus Core A's - I'd gotten plenty through my earlier Data Draining exploits, and had more than enough to last any of my Gate Hacking needs for a while to come.

What I was really hoping for hadn't happened, though... You see, using Data Drain was a bit like smashing ants with a two-ton sledgehammer. Nothing in the World stood a chance against it, once their write protection had been removed. However, just as using a sledgehammer to kill an ant in real life tends to result in some collateral damage, so was it within the World. Each use of Data Drain takes its toll upon the source code of the World, and upon its user. The World is resilient enough to recover, most of the time, so rarely is any serious damage done, but often the user, and sometimes other nearby players, experience odd effects.

Like becoming the recipient of a Dek Corv spell.

Admittedly, there were a large number of potential glitches that could occur other than Dek Corv, but Dek Corv was the one that I wanted. It had happened to me before, and I could make it happen again...

Having failed in my first attempt, I turned my attentions to the other Hell Box, and quickly broke through its own protective barrier. One Data Drain later, I was rewarded with yet another set of Hands of Wood, and this time, something extra.

The World shimmered briefly around me, and when it stabilized, I found that I'd been afflicted with a Dek Corma spell. So close! But a decrease in magical attack strength wasn't going to work. Spells were just too strong, and even in my weakened state, a single spell would do far more damage than the piddling damage I did with my Rusty Nails. Never mind the fact that even if it did not, I hardly relished the prospect of casting the hundred or so spells that would be necessary to whittle a Grand Mage down to the Breaking point.

BlackRose and I quickly dispatched the pathetic, level 0 Fake Money that were all that remained of the Hell Boxes after being Data Drained, and rested a moment as our characters data was updated with a measly one experience point apiece.

Elk: This isn't the best way to earn experience...

BlackRose: Don't worry about it, Elk - I'm sure he's just angry that he couldn't Data Drain a Grand Mage. Let him blow off some steam.

Elk: Oh... Okay...

I could have argued the point, but figured it'd be much easier to just show BlackRose what I had planned. I had my chance, about five portals later. Finally, when I Data Drained a Lamia Hunter, the beautiful broken-sword imagery representing Ap Corv danced around my head.

Me: Woohoo!

I strapped on my Rusty Nails and took off after a Grand Mage, leaving BlackRose to deal with a stray Hell Box on her own. (Which she did, only to be Confused again just before it died, leaving her to turn on poor Elk instead. I knew he had the hitpoints to survive it, though, so I wasn't about to give up my quarry to go help.) Two, three, three, two, two, two, three, two... I grimaced in disappointment. I was still doing an unhealthily large amount of damage, but maybe it would be small enough...

Unfortunately, that hope was dashed as well, when after around the twentieth strike, the Ap Corv spell wore off, and I was back to dealing around five damage with each hit. Once again, the Grand Mage fell without ever cracking its coded shell.

That was it. My final hope, and it just wasn't enough. The detrimental spells wrought upon me by Data Drain were simply too short-lived. Irrationally, I found myself suddenly fervently wishing that negative spells lasted as long as their positive counterparts.

Nah, thinking like that was useless. It didn't change anything. It was over. I would never be able to Data Drain a Grand Mage. Even if I Data Drained every other creature in every server of the World, I would always be a notch short. Heck, I'd probably end up finding others I couldn't handle, as well. Every failure had to start somewhere. I'd just have to get used to it.

Didn't make me happy, though, and the next Hell Box I found, I Data Drained just for the spite of it. Just as BlackRose had assumed I was doing before.

The World shimmered, and I lost four hundred experience points, dropping me from level 28 to level 27.

I froze, then, leaving the Fake Money to scurry away in terror. I had suddenly developed an idea so dreadful, it scared me.

It was just too much, right? How far was I really willing to go to indulge my little hobby? There was little question that it would work... Experience could be lost far more easily than it could be gained, particularly if the enemies that I was fighting were at a lower level...

I quickly mentally calculated just how much experience I'd need to lose to be weak enough to get the job done... I'd probably need to lose four more levels, or five to be safe. Grand Mages were a level 23 enemy, so if I was level 22, I'd probably be weak enough. Five levels lost. That was five thousand experience points that I'd need to make up again once I succeeded.

I tried to shake myself out of it. Wasn't the whole point of all this fighting to build myself up to the point where I could take on the creature that Data Drained Orca? Wasn't I setting myself up for disaster if I were to take such a giant step backwards?

It was no use, though. There was no resisting obsession. I pushed my doubts aside. As we cleared the final Field Portal, though, I realized that the enemies we were fighting were too high-level. Even with my Data Draining half of them, the remainder were restoring too much experience.

Me: Gate out, everyone. There's something I need to do.

BlackRose: Huh? But what about Meg?

Me: She'll wait a bit longer. Let's go!

Our gate-out returned us to Dun Loraeg in Theta Server. After stocking up on supplies, we travelled to Theta Hideous Organ Market Scaffold, which I knew from a previous visit was populated by a number of Noisy Wisps, Arrow Fish, and Scarlet Kings - all of which were easy to Protect Break, but low enough level that they wouldn't give me too much experience if I accidentally killed them.

The next half-hour or so was, frankly, nightmarish. I Data Drained creature after creature, occasionally rewarded with a stiff hit to my experience points, but all-too-often the victim of penalties, instead. At least twice, my entire party was afflicted with Miu Lei, and in our Charmed state turned on one another until only one of us was left standing. I was glad that I packed a few extra Resurrection scrolls for the trip.

I had never used Data Drain so often in such a short amount of time. It quickly became clear that the very foundations of the World were being badly strained, as the penalties I accumulated became more serious and more frequently applied. In a way, this worked to my advantage, though; losses of 400 experience became 600, then 800. It was at about that point that BlackRose grabbed my arm, a furious, but also worried look on her face.

BlackRose: Kite, what the hell are you doing? Just look at yourself! You're already down to level 24! You've got to stop this!

Me: I can't stop yet... I've still got two levels to go.

BlackRose dropped my arm in shock.

BlackRose: Two levels...? You're doing this on purpose!

Elk just shifted uncomfortably, as always clutching his staff like a security blanket. I got the impression that he had already figured out what BlackRose had just discovered. Then again, it was always hard to tell what Elk was thinking. Well, except when it came to Mia - he pretty much wore his heart on his sleeve for everyone to see whenever she was around.

Me: Yeah... Don't worry, I'll be back up to speed in no time. But this is just something I have to do.

BlackRose glared at me, trying to stare me down. We each had our reasons for being in the World. While she'd never confided in me just what had brought her here (it was obvious that she had been a little out of her element when she first began playing), I hadn't wanted to press her. She apparently believed that my quest would lead her to her own answers, and so seemed content to let me play leader. Still, what I was doing was a bit beyond the pale, and it was hardly a surprise that she found it a bit absurd.

Eventually, though, she just sighed.

BlackRose: All right, Kite. We'll help you through this. God knows I've done a few stupid things myself since I started out here.

I was a bit surprised at that. I'd half expected her to gate out and leave me alone with my insanity once she figured out what I was doing. I felt both warm, and a little guilty. It was nice having friends that would stick beside you, no matter what stupid thing you did.

Even more surprising was Elk's quick nod. Elk had been rather jealous of me for a while, but it seemed that I had earned some measure of his trust and friendship.

Elk: I think... you should be more careful, though, Kite. The World is starting to get messed up...

I heeded Elk's advice, and gave my Data Drain technique a chance to "cool off" every now and then. In this manner, I finally whittled my experience away until I was at my goal of level 22. It was a little humbling to realize that both of my companions were now a good six levels ahead of me.

Me: Okay, that's enough. Let's go back to Theta Great Distant Fertile Land.

So. The time had finally arrived. My moment of truth. While BlackRose dealt with a Hell Box and a Lamia Hunter behind me, I stared down the Grand Mage in front of me, feeling almost like a hero out of one of those cowboy westerns Yasuhiko used to like to watch.

Of course, the Grand Mage didn't stare back. It was just a simple programming construct, after all, and did exactly as its programming instructed it to - bounce off a goodly distance away and drop fireballs on our heads. I wasn't about to let it get away, though, and doggedly pursued it. Finally, I came within striking distance, and cut loose with my Rusty Nails.

One, one, two, one, two, one, two, two... I was STILL somehow doing more than a point of damage per hit a lot of the time. Still, I prayed that it would be enough.

After what must have been a hundred hits, I finally was rewarded with the beautiful sight and sound of the Grand Mage's write protection shattering. I didn't even wait a moment before lashing out with my Data Drain. I almost felt tears of triumph come to my eyes as the Grand Mage shriveled into a scrawny, naked old man - a Long-Lived, according to my displays - and an Inferno Wand was placed into my inventory.

The Long-Lived tried to scramble for safety, but a quick strike from my Rusty Nails was more than enough to kill the incredibly weak level 0 creature. As its body faded from view, I dropped my arms to my sides and sighed in relief.

BlackRose: You did it, Kite!

Even Elk was smiling broadly, a rather unusual expression for him.

Me: Yeah... I did it. Thanks, guys. I couldn't have done it without your help. Now, let's go see Meg!

* * *

Epilogue:

A few days later, we tracked down Skeith, and after a tremendously difficult battle, destroyed it. We were left with more questions than answers, though... Aura, the mysterious girl who might have answered some of our questions, was gone, Data Drained by Skeith. Helba, another who could have helped had not contacted me since rescuing me from that... thing that arose from Skeith's remains.

I was not ready to give up, of course. Yasuhiko was still in a coma, and I still did not know why. There were no leads, though, so there was nothing to do but train, and wait for some clue to surface.

It was fun, in a way. With no pressing responsibilities, I had the leisure to use the World in the way that it was intended - as a game to be played. The friends that I had made were more than willing to help out. After all, most of them had first come to the World in order to relax and have fun. They'd never expected to get caught up in the serious situation I'd brought with me.

For the first time, I was finally able to look at the World as a breathtakingly detailed virtual universe to explore, instead of as a malicious obstacle to be conquered.

I was with Mia and Elk in the fourth basement of Theta Discovered Talisman Giant, when we came across a Halloween flanked by a pair of Grand Mages. I smirked at the Grand Mages, feeling a smidgen of my earlier feeling of triumph returning.

The Halloween was the greater concern, though, as it was completely immune to physical attacks. I directed Elk to cast Juk Rom on it. As it happened, one of the Grand Mages was a little too close to the the Halloween, and was caught up in the whirlwind of wood.

My eyes bugged out, as the write protection around the Grand Mage disappeared with a crash.

For a moment, I doubted what I'd seen. So, I Data Drained the thing, just to be sure. Sure enough, the Grand Mage shriveled into another Long-Lived.

With a dawning feeling of horror, I turned on the other Grand Mage, and hit it with Vak Don. Grand Mages were fire-based enemies, and so the paltry level 1 fire spell should not have done much to harm it.

Crash. The Grand Mage's protection fell, even though the Mage had lost less than a third of its hitpoints. I Data Drained it in a sort of daze.

Mia had engaged the Halloween. She knew perfectly well that she could not harm it, but by hacking away at it, the catlike player character distracted it from the rest of us, giving us a chance to take care of the other enemies and cast magic on the Halloween. She noticed my inattention, and decided to call me back to reality.

Mia: Yo, Kite! A little help here?

Me: Oh, right. Sorry! Vak Don!

In a few moments, the Halloween collapsed, defeated. Mia and I polished off the two Long-Lived in short order.

Mia: So, what had you so worked up there?

I had never told anyone about the crazy lengths I went to to Data Drain a Grand Mage, and BlackRose and Elk had kept my secret, as well. I was thankful for that - it was kind of embarrassing, really, to be so controlled by a whim. Nevertheless, I felt that I could tell Mia at least part of the story.

Me: Well... It's just that Grand Mages take more than a hundred hits to Protect Break. I was just a little surprised when these Grand Mages only took one hit apiece. It caught me off-guard, is all... Do you think they were particularly weak, or something?

Mia's huge, slitted eyes narrowed in thought.

Mia: No... I don't think so... Wait, when you say a hundred hits, do you mean physical hits, or magical?

That caught me off-guard.

Me: Um... Physical, I guess. Why?

Mia's voice took on that lecturing tone that she used whenever explaining some new secret of the Twilight Bracelet I wore. It was strange, how much she seemed to know about it, and I had the feeling that she could clear up a lot of mysteries, if she would just open up about it. Unfortunately, she had evidently decided that the time was not right, and politely but very firmly deflected any attempts to pry into whatever it is that she knew.

Mia: Any attack will break through a creature's write protection eventually. However, in different creatures, the method in which the Virus Core has integrated itself with the creature's code tends to render it more vulnerable to one of the two types of damage, magical or physical. Hey, you must have the fourth Book of Ryu by now - just look it up there.

She shrugged.

Mia: I suppose that the protection around Grand Mages just happens to be more vulnerable to magic. That's all.

I just stared at Mia, completely silent. She stared back, obviously confused by my strange reaction. Our sort-of staring contest was interrupted by the distinct sound of someone snickering.

We turned to see a very unusual sight: Elk, with his hand over his mouth, doubled over in the attempt to restrain his laughter. He didn't last long. His staff clattered to the ground, and Elk soon joined it, literally rolling on the floor laughing.

Mia stared at Elk as though he'd been possessed. The honest concern on her face was a reminder that Elk's feelings for her might not be totally unreciprocated.

Mia: Good Lord, Elk - what's gotten into you?!?

Elk continued to laugh uncontrollably, occasionally pounding on the floor with his fist in his hilarity. Me, I just wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

Elk: One spell... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You could... could have just... asked... you know... I'm good at spells... XD

Good grief, he'd actually put an emoticon at the end of his sentence.

Hmph. Well, I'd learned my lesson, that's for sure. The next time I got one of these weird obsessions, I'd do the sensible thing: FORGET ABOUT IT.

Yeah, right. Who am I kidding?

END OF FILE

* * *

Afterword:

Yup, I really did do all that. I stripped a good six levels off of my character, tried my best to cast Dek Corv on myself, and even contemplated trying to run those little bastards past Elk to try to get him to kill them. As I was doing it, though, it occurred to me that, had this been a real MMORPG, my companions would almost certainly have thought me insane. Which gave me the idea to write this. ^_^ I hope that you enjoyed this sojourn into my madness.


End file.
